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Ear Mites & Body Mites

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JenniferG

JenniferG

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Has anyone treated their piggies for ear mites before? And if so, how long was the treatment?

My vet advised that I treat with canaural one week on and one week off, giving three weeks of treatment. The life cycle is 21 days.

I removed all their bedding and went back to finacard and plastic houses but almost two weeks on from their last canaural and xeno they are scratching all over again. I don't know if the vet's recommendation of treatment hasn't cleared the ear mites or whether I managed to reinfect them again by somehow getting them in contact with ear mites and body mites (probably from the sofa although I was trying to be careful)...since they have the body scratching again, I guess they got reinfected.

It's awful to think I went through all those weeks of treatment for nothing and have to go back and do it all again. Also, canaural is quite expensive, I can see it cheaper online but they want a prescription. My vets charge about £35 a visit too.
 
I always thought normal mite treatment sorted things out, including ears?
£35 pound for to see a piggie is atrocious.
My vet is brilliant she will stand in front of us & work our bill out, no we won't do it that way, we'll do it this way. I had Gizmo neutered for £40, whereas others seem to have paid double. 2 of our vets are cavy savvy & they keep piggies themselves, which is a bonus.
 
JenniferG said:
Has anyone treated their piggies for ear mites before? And if so, how long was the treatment?

My vet advised that I treat with canaural one week on and one week off, giving three weeks of treatment. The life cycle is 21 days.

I removed all their bedding and went back to finacard and plastic houses but almost two weeks on from their last canaural and xeno they are scratching all over again. I don't know if the vet's recommendation of treatment hasn't cleared the ear mites or whether I managed to reinfect them again by somehow getting them in contact with ear mites and body mites (probably from the sofa although I was trying to be careful)...since they have the body scratching again, I guess they got reinfected.

It's awful to think I went through all those weeks of treatment for nothing and have to go back and do it all again. Also, canaural is quite expensive, I can see it cheaper online but they want a prescription. My vets charge about £35 a visit too.
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Mange mites and ear mites are two different mites. Are you sure that the ear mites are back or that they have now come down with mange mites, which you treat with ivermectin (please not a cheap low dosed pet shop product that is not strong enough for an acute outbreak)? Most guinea pigs have mange mite eggs in their skin, which are usually kept under control by a fully working immune system, but they can make a break for it if the immune sysem is lowered.

Please see a vet for a diagnosis. Ivermectin is prescription-free, so with his consent, you can order the correct xeno from online, according to their body weight if he thinks that you are dealing with mange mites now. Please do not treat on spec and always treat a full course, not just a one-off.
Guinea Lynx :: Parasites
 
I did see the vet, who prescribed canaural for the ear mites, which she could see, and xeno for the body mites as they were scratching their bodies too.

I has been almost 2 weeks since their last treatment (last canaural for ear mites was given last Wednesday 15th Feb and last xeno was on Thurs 9th Feb). They were better but now they are scratching their bodies again, scratching their ears again and shaking their heads. So it seems that they have picked up both types of mites again.
 
I'm confused amount which xeno (ivermectin) to buy...xeno 450 is for guinea pigs over 1,200g and xeno 50 is for guinea pigs under 800g, so what do guinea pigs weighing 800g-1,200g have? I have tried counting drops before and it's really hard as they don't come out easily.

I also see that it's supposed to work on ear mites but my vet prescribes canaural, has anyone found xeno works on ear mites?

I'm using fleece and not sure I trust a 60 degree wash to kill the mites but hate having to go back to finacard and plastic houses while I treat them. Does washing at 60 degrees really kill the mites?
 
JenniferG said:
I did see the vet, who prescribed canaural for the ear mites, which she could see, and xeno for the body mites as they were scratching their bodies too.

I has been almost 2 weeks since their last treatment (last canaural for ear mites was given last Wednesday 15th Feb and last xeno was on Thurs 9th Feb). They were better but now they are scratching their bodies again, scratching their ears again and shaking their heads. So it seems that they have picked up both types of mites again.
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Hi! Any proper mites treatment involves a course of 3-4 rounds of ivermectin at the product specific interval in order to most efficiently kill of any emerging mites. What you are reporting is normal. Please continue with both products. Mites are not going away with a one-off treatment.

Xeno 450 can be given to guinea pigs over 800g; ideally to those at 1200g and over if xeno 200 is available (which it not always is).
 
Thanks, I have never seen xeno 200. The vet prescribed 2 doses of xeno as they didn't seem bad to her but I actually gave them 3. They had the full course of canaural for the ear mites too. I think my sofa is a mite haven and they were reinfected as scratching ears again too but had the full course for that.

My piggies are 980g, 1,104g and 1,066g
 
What about fleece washing at 60 degrees? Is that enough to kill the mites?
 
JenniferG said:
What about fleece washing at 60 degrees? Is that enough to kill the mites?
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Yes, but also give the cage and any surfaces you have your guinea pigs on rgular a good deep clean with a good disinfectant like F10.
 
Just back from vets. Despite a little scratching and head shaking, no ear mites seen in any of them. Some mites but not too bad so back to the xeno. At least I don't need canaural as well this time as it is expensive and takes 5 weeks to treat in total. It works out cheaper to use the xeno 450 but not use the whole tube. The xeno 50 is a 9th of the strength, which I didn't realise and I was under treating them last time thinking the 50 was half of the 450...daft that I didn't realise from the numbers.
 
Finally my F10 insecticide has arrived. I am having to start all over again with xeno 450 as the piggies didn't stop scratching after their first dose and Treacle, who I had been keeping in a separate cage waiting for his 6 weeks, is scratching too. I am concerned that they are scratching their ears but the vet didn't see ear mites this time in any of them.

I can only think that they are getting reinfected from the sofa or my clothing...or the mites aren't getting killed when I wash their fleeces at 60 degrees. I am going to go back to finacard again and plastic houses, and not risk the fleeces reinfecting them. There is a 3 week cycle so 4 weeks of no contact with fleece should kill the mites unless the eggs get in the fleece.

Do the eggs stay in the guinea pigs or do they get onto the fleece too?
 
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